Chair:Dr Emmanuel ReynardInstitute of GeographyUniversity of LausanneBFSH 2CH – 1015 LausannePhone. + 41 21 692.30.65Fax. + 41 21 692.30.75Emmanuel.Reynard@igul.unil.ch

Secretary:Dr Paola CoratzaDepartment of Earth SciencesUniversity of Modena and Reggio EmiliaLargo S.Eufemia 19I – 41100 ModenaPhone. + 39 059.205.5857Fax. + 39 059.205.5887coratza.paola@unimore.it

Geomorphological SitesResearch, assessment and improvement

A Working Group of the International Association of Geomorphologists

Annual Report 2002

Introduction

The working group Geomorphological Sites:research, assessment and improvement wascreated in September 2001 at the 5th InternationalConference of Geomorphology at Tokyo. It will bein activity until the 6th Conference at Zaragoza in2005. This report synthesises the activities of theworking group during the period September 2001to March 2003.

Members

There are two types of members:corresponding members (free participation) andfull members (one or two per country, designatedby the co-ordinator).

Currently the working group has 60corresponding members and 11 full membersfrom 12 countries.

Activities 2002

Most activities are organised aroundworkshops.

International Workshop, Modena

Between 19th - 22nd June 2002 was held inModena (Italy) the International WorkshopGeomorphological sites: research, assessmentand improvement, organised by Prof. SandraPiacente and Dr. Paola Coratza. This Workshopwas the first official meeting opportunity for theWG and for the Italian Research Project COFIN2001-2003 "Geosites in the Italian landscape"

(Co-ordinator Sandra Piacente, University ofModena and Reggio Emilia).

A view of the poster session.

This meeting, open to all Italian and foreignresearchers interested in this topic and willing toco-operate to the research on geomorphosites,was the first occasion to discuss several aspectsthat could be of interest for the WG:

• a first discussion on the activity already inprogress between the components of the tworesearch groups;

• definition of the state-of-the-art of theinvestigations on geosites, with particularattention to those with a geomorphologicalcharacter;

• comparison and connection of the respectiveresearch activities;

• outlines for future perspectives and activitiesconnected to the IUGS International Geological

Congress which will take place in Florence inAugust 2004.

• Definition of the main objective of the WG, thatis to improve knowledge and assessment ofgeomorphological sites, with particularemphasis on conservation, education andtourist attraction in respect to these sites.

The workshop was complemented by a one-day excursion in the Apennines. The Proceedingswill be edited in 2003 by Sandra Piacente andEmmanuel Reynard as a special issue of theItalian journal Il Quaternario.

The Salse di Nirano, a geomorphological site in theApennines, one of the sites visited during the field trip.

Spanish meeting, Valladolid

The Spanish Society of Geomorphologists(SEG) held the VI National Meeting onGeomorphology at Valladolid, 19-22 September2002. The meeting was organised by theDepartment of Geography (University ofValladolid) and co-sponsored by the Castilla yLeón Regional Government, the University ofValladolid and the SEG. It was placed under thepatronage of the Spanish Association ofGeographers (AGE), the IAG and the IAGGeomorphosites Working Group.

The meeting was organised in generalsessions and four symposia (Mountain andG e o m o r p h o l o g y , H u m a n a c t i o n ,Geomorphological processes and territorialdynamics, Natural Heritage and Geomorphology,and Volcanic geomorphology). The meeting hadone hundred twenty participants of Spain, Andorra(1), Portugal (3), Italy (1), Switzerland (1) andUSA (1), with 55 communications, threeconferences and a round table.

The third symposium, titled Natural Heritageand Geomorphology (Patrimonio Natural yGeomorfología) jointed 20 researchers interestedin Geomorphosites. Seven talks were presentedand the topics included place-names, mountainand geomorphology, ecotour ism andgeomorphology, weathering on historic heritageon coastal environments, geomorphosites in

Andalusia and Portugal, and geomorphologicalheritage lost. The opening lecture of the Meetingtitled Geomorphology applied to Cultural heritagewas delivered by Mario Panizza, and during theMeeting was exposed a poster about theGeomorphological sites IAG Working Group, withinformation about objectives, meetings anddevelopment. Several new members weretouched by this action.

The Proceedings were edited in a book titledRecents studies on Geomorphology: Heritage,Mountain and Territorial Dynamics, published bythe Department of Geography of the University ofCantabria. Valladolid, 2002. 574 pp.

Seminar Geomorphological Landscapes,Lausanne

From 10th to 14th February 2003 was organisedat Lausanne a postgraduate seminar on thetheme Geomorpho log ica l Landscapes :assessment, protection, valorisation. 30 studentsand researchers of various universities of WesternSwitzerland took part to the seminar. The seminarwas organised in five sessions: 1) Definition andanalysis methods of geomorphologicallandscapes, 2) Institutional management oflandscapes, 3) Geomorphological sites and theirassessment, 4) Examples of geomorphologicallandscape assessment, 5) Tourist valorisation ofgeomorphological landscapes.

The seminar was organised by the universitiesof Lausanne and Fribourg, and sponsored by theUniversity Commission of Western Switzerland(CUSO). It was placed under the patronage of theIAG Geomorphosites Working Group. 25communications were presented, from whichseveral by members of the WG (Paola Coratza,Mario Panizza, Matthias Geyer, Peter Jordan,Michel Monbaron, Emmanuel Reynard). Theseminar produced the adhesion of several newmembers. The seminar will be complemented bya five days field trip in the Swiss Alps in August2003.

The Matterhorn: a gemorphological site that will bevisited during the field trip (photo: M. Genier-Rosset,IGUL).

Flyers, posters

Two posters and flyers presenting the activitiesof the WG were prepared. They are at dispositionof the members for conferences, meetings,workshops.

Bibliography

An annotated bibliography is in preparation inconjunction with the COFIN Research Group. Itwill be published for the Conference of Zaragoza.

Administration

Co-ordinator is E. Reynard (Lausanne);secretary is Paola Coratza (Modena). Most of theadministrative work is made using the Internet.Two meetings with some full members wereorganised at Modena and Sion (Switzerland) on27 January and 15 February 2003. Anadministrative meeting with all members was heldat Modena on June 22nd 2002. The next plenarymeeting is planned on 3 October 2003 at Cagliari.

Publications

Serrano E. et al. (2002). Recents studies onGeomorphology: Heritage, Mountain andTerritorial Dynamics, Valladolid, Department ofGeography of the University of Cantabria, 574 pp.

Reynard E. et al. (2003). ). Géomorphologie ettourisme, Actes de la Réunion annuelle de laSociété Suisse de Géomorphologie (SSGm),Finhaut, 21-23 septembre 2001, Lausanne,Institut de Géographie, Travaux et Recherches n°24.

Tsanfleuron glaciokarstic landscape (Switzerland): ageomorphological site proposed at the Swiss nationalinventory of geosites facing negative impacts of touristactivities. The road was created by destroying a LittleIce Age moraine and limestone banks. AnEnvironmental impact assessment (EIA) was madeafter the works and the road is now destroyed and themorphological aspects of the moraine have beenreconstructed (Photo: E. Reynard, IGUL).

Perspectives 2003

International Workshop, Cagliari

A Workshop on the theme GeomorphologicalSites: assessment and mapping will be held atCagliari (Italy) the next 1-5 October 2003,organised by Prof. Ulzega, Prof. Di Gregorio(University of Cagliari) and Dr V. Panizza(University of Sassari). This meeting marks thesecond (after Modena) official meeting of the WGand the COFIN 2001-2003 Italian ResearchProject Geosites in the Italian landscape. Themain themes of this meeting will be theassessment and mapping of GeomorphologicalSites.

The workshop is followed by an administrativemeeting, where we will discuss of Education onGeomorphosi tes . Several initiatives will bepresented. The workshop is complemented by atwo days field trip.

Regional Conference, Mexico

A session on the theme Geomorphologicalsites: vulnerability and assessment is organisedwithin the IAG Regional Conference in MexicoCity, 27-31 October 2003. The chairmen are E.Latrubesse (Brasil) and E. Reynard (Switzerland).

Perspectives 2004-2005

Gemorphological sites assessment

At Cagliari, a method for assessinggeomorphological sites will be presented by theModena team (P. Coratza, C. Giusti). It is plannedthat the WG members will test the methodology invarious environments and various countriesduring the period October 2003-October 2004.The results will be presented at the 6th IAGConference at Zaragoza.

Conferences

The WG will organise topical sessions duringthe following conferences:

• 32nd International Geological Congress(32IGC), Florence 2004: Session T.17.01Geomorphological sites in a cultural integratedlandscape; chair: M. Panizza, E. Reynard.

• 6th I n t e rna t i ona l Con fe rence o fGeomorphology, Zaragoza 2005: a symposiumand a field trip will be proposed to theorganisers.

Lausanne, 1st April 2003

Emmanuel REYNARD, Paola CORATZA, Enrique SERRANO